Category Archives: Health

There are some days when you simply wonder if you’re going to make it through the day.

Phone calls from folks who act like idiots, people who have unreasonable expectations that they want to make your issue (and fault), computers that don’t work, cars that don’t go, food that doesn’t arrive… you know exactly what I’m talking about.

It makes you want to go crawl under a rock and hide, or at the very least go sit on the beach all by yourself.

And then there’s Judith.

Judith has more health problems than most of us have hairs on our head. Speaking of being “beat up…”

Today, in the midst of a “being beat up” day, she sends me an email that simply states: “I’m doing everything as indicated and feel like a new person.”

Go ahead, punch me again. But watch out for that Mona Lisa smile on my lips…

Why the big hoopla on H1N1/swine flu? First, I am continuously being queried about it. Second, I am seriously concerned about the reaction to it, not the actual illness. Finally, I loathe the spirit of fear that is being unleashed on the public.

Below I am reproducing a piece put together by K.C. Craichy on his blog. It provides a nice thumbnail sketch of the problem.

Never before has a vaccine been so quickly fast tracked through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with pressure from the U.S. Congress, who along with a $1 billion grant to pharmaceutical companies, also insulated these companies from product liability claims when people are injured by their fast tracked vaccines. This combination of extreme haste to market without the legally mandated years of testing and regulatory hurdles, combined with no liability for vaccine injury by the makers of the vaccine, is a recipe for disaster.

Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. In fact, in the flu scare of 1976, more people died of the flu vaccination than from the flu itself (1).

The Massachusetts state Senate has recently passed the “Pandemic Response Bill” that now awaits approval in the House. This bill includes frightening language that permits authorities to force vaccinations, forcibly quarantine those that choose to not be vaccinated and levy fines of up to $1,000 per day to those who refuse mandatory vaccinations and quarantines (2).

Former Chief Vaccine Control Officer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Dr. J. Anthony Morris, is quoted as saying, “There is a great deal of evidence to prove that immunization of children does more harm than good.” Dr. Morris is also quoted as saying, “There is no evidence that any influenza vaccine thus far developed is effective in preventing or mitigating any attack of influenza. The producers of these vaccines know that they are worthless, but they go on selling them, anyway.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) admits vaccines are not needed for healthy people and that obese people are at higher risk of contracting swine flu (3). Yet, WHO is on the verge of mandating global mass vaccinations against swine flu, even though it states on its own website that such vaccines have never been proven safe (4).

Many neurosurgeons have also expressed concern about the potential for increased Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which they say could be triggered by the vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) admits that the flu vaccine given in 1976 was associated with people getting GBS, but believes the chance of that happening again with new vaccines should be much lower (5).

Millions of parents are talking about this important question in light of the U.S. Government’s fast-tracking of millions of vaccines intended for school children across the country this October. Parents are asking important questions vital to the health and welfare of their children. How will these vaccines be tested to make sure they’re safe? What solid evidence does the government have that these experimental vaccines are necessary or effective? Are state governments prepared to obey vaccine safety provisions in the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act? Who will be held responsible if the vaccine is not safe and harms children? Will children be forced to receive the vaccines or will parents be able to make that choice?

These and other important questions for parents and their children are addressed in this special video produced by the National Vaccine Information Center and presented by its Founder and President, Barbara Loe Fisher.

At least according to the U.S. leading South American cheerleader, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

I have nothing in common with this egomaniac dictator-disguised-as-president, in fact, I really don’t care for him. He is so typical of the worst of character traits in Latin cultures. Obviously, I love Latin cultures, but detest this particular characteristic in it’s men. It is probably the single, strongest reason that these countries cannot break their ties to poverty.

However… I gotta admit that I like what my buddy Hugo has pulled off with this stunt.

The article wacks the fellow; he is so goofy that it is easy to do so. But it deflects the attention to the truth of his actions.

He has probably saved the lives of folks. This stuff is deadly. Yep, deadly. Seriously.

I could say, “Do your homework,” but you won’t. I deal with this daily. I feel like the little boy crying, “Wolf!” and nobody listens. I’m used to it.

Seed of Hope is trying to address the problem, teaming up American sponsors with Brazilian children. For $1 a day a sponsor can provide a child with a nutritional meal each day, clothing, rudimentary medical care, and educational assistance.

They also get to meet Jesus.

At a recent meeting in Ubaúna, Brazil, we met with all the parents and children who are registered in the program. Hundreds of adults and children were present. The level of excitement was high. Parent after parent came up to me, wanting to thank me for giving them hope.

I was humbled and more than a little uncomfortable in the role of “savior.”

At one point I had kids dripping off me like water off a duck. I was surrounded, inundated, hugged to the point of claustrophobia.

In the midst of all this commotion, a little kid was insistently tugging on my jeans. At first not really noticed, then irritated, I bent down and asked, “What is it little fellow?”

With the biggest, saddest, brownest eyes you can imagine, he looked up at me and asked, “Am I adopted?”